Work-feeding attachment for sewing-machines.



W. S. MILLS. WORK FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.12, 1912.

Patented Dec. 1, 19M

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Qvi tmeaoe a 5- w/mw W. S. MILLS.

WORK FEEDING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.12, 1912.

1, 1 19 098. Patelgted lggignlil l.

,3 mum/n ,s. JLHTLS STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' mum s.- nuts, or rmmrtrnt, CONNECTICUT.

, wont-resume ATTAOHHENT'FOB SEWING-mammals.-

To all iahom z'tma concern:

.Be it known t at I,'--Wn.nmm S.-M1LLs citizen of the United States, and resident of Trumbulhin the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain neweand useful Improvements in Work- Feeding Attachments for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

-This invention relates to improvements in work-feeding attachment for sewing machines, and s an im rovernent upon that type of feeding attac ent shown and described in my prior- Patent #552,691.

The device is particularly adapted for stitching labels on shirts and other garments, orzin fact in stitching pieces of materials of predetermined shapes'and sizes upon wearing apparel of various sorts. The construction of in improvement is such as to enable me to stitch on labels of the abovemiass without turning the work while in the machine and by simply moving the work forward, backward and longitudinal of the sewing machine bed in a, way to follow and stitch down the outer edges of the label.

'M present invention relates more particularly to improved mechanism for receiving and holding the label to be stitched, in proper position to be guided backward, for ward and crosswise with relation to the op crating needle, to include in said construction a special shaped presser foot that is designed to normally hold the label down firmly upon thecloth to which it is to be attached while the needle is working around the outer edges of the said resser foot, to support this presser foot mm the movable part of the attachment while guiding the .work over the bed of the machine and with relation to the needle, and in a man- 1 her to permit the needle to o aerate entirely around the presser .foot wit out interfering with said supporting'means, and finally.

to provide means whereby the said presser foot audits supporting means maybe automaticaly operated forward and backward with respect to each other so that at a predetermined time the relative position of the support for the presser foot will change from a forward to a rearward position thereby allowing the needle toentirely encircle the presser foot which remains fixed and stationary with'respect to the garment and the label stitched thereto.

The-{invention resides and consist-sin the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 1, 1914.

- Application flied August 12, 1912. Serial No. 114,500.

more fully described, illustrated in the accompanym drawings, and pointed out in the claims ereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of construction within the scope of the claims may be resorted to without departure from the s irit or sacrificing any of the advantages 0 the invention.

Similar characters of reference denote like or correspondi parts throughout the several figures of t e accompanying drawings formin a part of this specification, and upon w 'ch, V

Figure 1, is a plan view of my im roved work feeding attachment as it wou d appear when attached to the bed of a sewmg machine, in position for beginnin an operation. Fig. 2, is a side elevation o the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, and also illustrating a needle and needle bar of a. sewing view of the presser foot, its. movable supporting bar and guide late which is pivotally hung to the moval e slide 23 shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Fig. 6, is an end view as seen from arrow a in Fig. 2. Fig. 7, is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 5, looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 8, is a vertical cross sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 5. Fig. 9, is a plan view of an oblong shaped label as it would appear after being stitched to a garment, by my improved work feeding attachment.

For the better understanding of my present improvement, l have herein illustrated that portion of my formerdevice which includes the means for moving the work so porting plates and presser foot in a bac ward. forward and lateral direction with respect to the bed of the sewing machine head and the needle hole therethrough.

For the purpose of more clearly understanding the mechanism, 1 will now briefly refer to the parts by reference numerals,

wherein 10 represents the bed of a sewing machine head, and 11 the usual hole through which the needle 12 operates. This needle may be of the usual or any preferred design and as shown is carried in a reciprocat ing needle bar 13 operatively mounted in the head (not shown)' of the machine. For the sake of clearness I have also omitted the other operative parts of the sewing machine head including the shuttle carriage and operating connections.

14 represents a bracket that is secured to the bed of the machine head by screws 15 and which serves to support the operating shaft 16 and upon the upper end of which is mounted an operating handle 17. This shaft may be thus rotated by hand, but in practice it is also provided upon its lower end with a pawl and ratchet connection, not shown, whereby it is rotated automatically step by step during the operation of the machine. A small pinion 18 is mounted upon this shaft (see dotted lines Figs. 1 and 3) in position to engage the racks 19, 20, 21 and 22 that are secured to the longitudinally reciprocating slide 23. This slide, as will be noted, is in turn mounted in a lower slide 24 which is free to be moved in a forward and backward direction or at a right angle to the movement of the first named slide. It will thus be apparent that with the operation of the shaft 16-there will be given to the slide 23 and parts carried thereby, both a forward and backward movement and a movement lengthwise of the bed of the sewing machine head, and that said movements when combined produce a corresponding rectangular movement of the work support-' ing parts and presser foot.

The presser foot and its connected parts include the novel features of this application and will next be described as follows: A bracket 25 is secured to the under side of the forwardly projected portion 26 of the longitudinally reciprocating slide 23. A work supporting plate 27 is secured to the bracket and is moved backward and forward upon the, to of the bed of the sewing machine with t e several movements of the said slide.

A rectangular opening 28 is formed in thisplate as represented by the space inside of the rectangular lines 29 shown in Fi s. 1 and 3. This opening is substantially t e same in size as the openin 30 in the clamping plate 31. The said p ate 27 serves to support the garment to which the label is fastened, while the clamping-plate 31 arranged above the guide plate serves to close down on the top of the garment and clamp it against the bottom guide plate 27 so that the two may be ma e to carry the garment, label and presser foot around during the stitching operation. This clamping plate 31 is secured between the outer ends of the two parallel side members 32, whose inner end portions are connected by a cross piece 33, the said ends of the side pieces 32 are pivotally connected to the outwardly disposed ends 34 of the before mentioned bracket 25. A yoke 35 is secured to the side pieces 32 and serves as a bearing for a spring 36 which is adjustably secured to the upper bracket 37 secured to the before mentioned slide 23. The purpose of this spring and its connections are to impart a downward pressure to the said yoke, its frame and clamping plate 31,,

whereby the garment will be firmlyf'he ld beneath the clamping-plate and against the work supporting plate. The frame members 32 carrying the clamping plate are pivoted to the ends 34 of the bracket 25 so that the plate may be raised and lowered against the action of the spring 36 for the lacement or removal of the garment to whic the-label is to be attached.

As before stated the garment. which is represented in Fig. 9, b the numeral 39 and to which the labelflO 1s stitched, is placed upon the supporting plate 27 and after being adjusted to the position desired for the attachment of the label, is clamped by the plate 31 which is lowered upon it. The la bels are formed of a shape and size, to correspond with the o ening in the clamping plate and after being placed therein and.

upon the garment, the presser foot 41 is lowered to hold the label in position during the stitching operations. As will be seen from Fig. 1, the presser foot covers the central portion of the label only and leaves a space betweenit and the edges of the opening of the clamping plate, in a way to expose the entire outer top edge. portion of the label for the operation of the needle.

The .presser foot is mounted to be raised and lowered to permit the insertion and engagement of the label, and is also provided with means for clamping the label down upon the garment asfollows: A guide plate 43 is pivotally connected'to a pin 44 in the before mentioned forwardly extended member 26 of the slide 23. This guide plate is provided with two guide brackets 45 and 46 in which an arm 47 is slidably mounted.

The presser foot is connected to the, outer in a manner to clamp the latter against the label and hold it in position "while stitching;

This presser foot ma be connected throng a link 49 and lever 0 to be lifted- The operation of stitching a label is begun withthe parts in'theposition shown in Fig.1 whereupon the presser foot together with the worksupporting" guide plate andclamping plate are moved toward the y con mum operator as indicated by arrow 6. This movement is continued until the rear right hand corner of the label is reached, whereupon the latter and its supporting parts are moved to the right thereby producing the cross stitches along the rear'edge portion of the label, bringing the parts to the position shown in Fig. 3. A continued operation of the machine carries the work directly rearward. then across, and then forward again to point of beginning in a way to guide the entire edge portion of the label around in a rectangular manner beneath the operating needle.

In order to permit the needle to completely encircle the presser foot the supporting arm for the presser foot has necessarily got to be moved with relation to the presser foot so as to clear the needle. This feature is accomplished by arranging a longitudinal shaft 51 in the before mentioned arm 47 and mounting upon it two pinions 52 each of which engage a separate rack 53 upon the guide plate 43. The under edge portion of the arm 47 is slotted to receive the said pinions and racks and whereby the arm is guided backward and forward on the plate and within the guides 45 and 46.' The said shaft. 51 projects out from the end of the arm?! and extends through a side block 54- that is mounted to move backward and forward and longitudinally of the presser foot, said presser toot being provided with an elongated opening 55 to permit of the said movement of the block. The block is provided upon its under side with a longitudinai groove 56 to accommodate a. rack 5'3 cut in the top side of the lower portion of the presser A pinion 58 is mounted upon the-shaft 5i and is arranged within a recess of the said block 44 in a way to engage the rack 57. 'l he under face of the presser'foot is preferably notched as shown in Fig. 'Lto better engage the label and clamp it in position upon the garment during the stitching operation.

lfrom the foregoing it will be noted that the resser-toot is necessarily rigidly supported upon the shaft of the arm and remains in a fixed position with relation to said arm until the shaft is opera, when owing to the pinion and rack connection with the guide plate, the arm is moved with regard to the plate and presser foot. This. of course, necessarily means that the presser foot and guide plate "at all times remain in an operation and remains in that P0815011 until the parts move toward the operator suiiicient for the engagement of the arm with the adjustable stop screw 59 mounted in a lug'tit) secured to the bed of the sewing machinm, comp machine head. This engagement of the arm with the screw nrily holds the arm while theguide plate and other parts continue to move forward with relation to the said arm and screw. In otherwords, the arm is shoved back in the ways of the presser foot and guides 45 and 46 so that the end of the arm connected with the premer foot is moved back, so as to be connected with the rear portion of the presser foot as shown in Fig. 3, instead ofthe front portion, as shown in Fig. 1. It will thus be obvious that when the parts cohtinue to move around and the needle works up "to the finishing point, the arm will still be in said relatively rear position and is sufliciently out of the way to permit the needle to finish up against the beginning end of the row of stitches.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure out is:

v1. A worl? feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprisin slidable work carrying plates, a presser oot to engage the work, a support for supporting the presser foot that holds it in a fixed position with relation to the plates during the stitching operation, and means for moving the presser foot support longitudinally with respect to the operation.

2. A work i HI attachment for sewing rising slidable work can ing plates, a presser foot to engage t work, an arm for supporting the 'presser foot in a fixed position with relation to the plates, and'means for moving the supporting arm forward with respect to the presser foot while the sewing machine is in opera tion.

3. A work feed attachment for labei sewing machines, comprising a reciprocating slide, a supporting plate attached thereto, a clamping plate having an opening therein, a per foot adapted to work through the opening of the clamping plate, means for supporting the presser foot central within the opening during the entire stitch operation, and means for changing the relative location of the support for the pr foot with each label stitching operation.

4-. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprising worir carrying plates, :1 presser foot to engage the work, an arm for supporting the same central withrelation 'to the plates. means to permit the arm to be raised and lowered, and means hi2 moving the said arm with respect to the foot and plates while the sewing machine is in operation.

5. A work feeding attacnt for sewing machines, comprising a reci rocating slide, a supporti plate attached ereto, a stamp Q5 presser foot while the sewing machine is in Elli) ing plate having an opening therein, a presser foot adapted to work in and central of the opening of the clamping plate, yieldable connections for holding the foot central in said opening during the entire stitching operation, movable supporting means for the presser foot whereby the relative location of the connection of said means with the presser foot may be changed with each label stitching operation.

6. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprising a reciprocating slide, asupporting plate attached thereto, a clamping plate having an opening therein. an elongated presser foot adapted to Work through and central of the opening of the clamping plate, an arm having a movable connection with the presser foot for supporting the same central whereby the point of the connection with the foot is moved longitudinally of thepresser foot without disturbing the relative position of the latter.

=7. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprising a reciprocating slide, a supporting plate attached thereto, a clamping plate having an opening therein, means for moving the said slide-and connected plates in a rectangular direction, a presser foot arranged central of the opening and also'adapted'to be moved with the said plates, an arm for supporting the presser foot, means for also moving said arm with respect to the presser foot to change the location of the connection of said arm with the presser foot and without disturbing the central position of the latter.

8. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprising slidable work carrying plates havin openings therein", a presser foot that is hel central thereonto engage the work, an arm normally connecting with one end of the presser foot for supporting the same, and means for moving the arm and presser foot with respect to each otherwhile the sewing machine is in operation and so as to not changethe position of the presser foot with relation to the plates.

9. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprising slidable work carrying plates, a presser foot to engage the work, an arm for supporting the presser foot, rack and gear connections of the arm and presser foot, and means for operating the gear to move the presser foot laterally with respect to the arm while the sewing machine is in operation.

10. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprising a reciprocating slide, a supporting plate attached thereto, a guide plate, an arm mounted therein and having ear and rack connections therewith, a clamping plate having an opening therein, a presser foot adapted to'vork centrally through the portion of the opening of the clamping plate, and means carried by the said arm for moving the presser foot whereby the relative location of the connection with the foot may be changed with each.

'central with respect to the plates to engage the work, means for moving the arm upon the plate, and means for moving the said arm with respect to the presser foot while the sewing machine is in operation.

12. A work feeding attachment forsewing machines, comprising a reciprocating slide, a supporting plate attached thereto, a clamping plate also carried by the slide and having an opening therein, a presser foot adapted to work-through the opening of the'clamping plate, a guide plate also carried by the slide, an arm movably mounted on the guide plate, a gear and rack connection of the arm and presser foot whereby the relative location of the connection with the presser foot may be changed with each operation of the machine,

13. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprising a reciprocating slide, a guide plate attached thereto, a presser foot the position of which remains fixed with relation to the plate, a slidable armmounted upon the guide plate and having a movable connection with the presser foot for supportin the same, means for sliding the arm an moving its connection with the presser foot longitudinally and Evithout changing the position of the presser oot.

14. A work feeding attachment for sewing machines, comprisin a reciprocating slide, a guide plate hinge thereto, a clamping plate having an opening therein, means for moving the said slide and connected parts in" a rectangular direction, a presser foot also adapted to be moved with the said plates, an arm mounted on the guide plate for supporting the presser foot, rack-and gear connections of the'arm and guide plate,

rack and gear connections of thev arm and day of August A.:D. 1912. whimAMs. MILLS.

Witnesses: i

C. M. NEWMAN,

RUTH M. WORDEN. 

